Where did Arcesilaus study or belong to academically?

Arcesilaus was associated with the Platonic Academy in Athens, where he served as the scholarch (head) and redirected its philosophical focus toward skepticism.

What is Arcesilaus known for?

He is known for leading the skeptical turn of the Platonic Academy, shifting its orientation from the dogmatic teachings of earlier Platonism to a position of epistemic skepticism.

What did Arcesilaus write or publish?

Arcesilaus did not write any surviving original works. His ideas are known through the reports of later ancient authors and his philosophical influence on the Academy.

What is the significance of Arcesilaus in philosophy?

Arcesilaus is significant for introducing skepticism into the Academy, arguing that knowledge is not attainable with certainty, which became a foundational principle of what is now called Academic Skepticism.

Arcesilaus

3rd-century BC Greek Hellenistic philosopher

Person Human Q73527

Arcesilaus — Cicero_Academica_1810_title_page.jpg: Marcus Tullius Cicero derivative work: Singinglemon (talk) · Public Domain · Wikimedia

Facts

19 properties

Instance of: human
Sex or gender: male^[14]
Date of birth: 315 BC
Date of death: 240 BC
Place of birth: Pitane
Place of death: Athens, Classical Athens^[6]
Country of citizenship: Classical Athens^[7]
Occupation: philosopher
Field of work: philosophy^[8]
Position held: scholarch of the Platonic Academy^[9]
Student of: Crates of Athens^[17]
Languages spoken, written or signed: Ancient Greek^[29]
Described by source: 1870 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, The Nuttall Encyclopædia, Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, Russian translation of Lübker's Antiquity Lexicon, Small Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 4th edition (1885–1890), Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition, Description of Greece, Granat Encyclopedic Dictionary, New International Encyclopedia, Pauly–Wissowa^[18]^[19]^[20]^[21]^[22]^[23]^[24]^[25]^[26]^[27]^[28]
Movement: Platonism^[15]
Residence: Classical Athens^[16]
Significant place: Pitane^[32]
Student: Eratosthenes, Chrysippus of Soli, Lacydes of Cyrene, Panaretus^[10]^[11]^[12]^[13]
Time period: Hellenistic period^[30]
Writing language: Ancient Greek^[31]

🏷️ Also known as

en Arcesilaus en Arcesilaus of Pitane ar أركسيلاوس cs Arkesiláos z Pitany da Arkesilaos de Arkesilaos von Pitane de Arcesilaus el Αρκεσίλαος el Ἀρκεσίλαος es Arcesilao de Pitane es Arcesilao fa آرچسیلوس fa آرکسیلاوس fi Arcesilaus fr Arcesilas de Pitane fr Arcésilas de Pitane fr Arcésilas de Pytane he ארקסילאוס hu Pitanéi Arkeszilaosz it Arcesilao di Pitane

🔖 Identifiers · 50

ISNI: 0000000453259294
VIAF cluster ID: 26144648228.4B (15.2M–26144648228.4B, n=5)
Library of Congress Authorities ID: nb2018024087
GND ID: 119557592
Academic Tree ID: 166640
Brockhaus Enzyklopädie online ID: arkesilaos
CERL Thesaurus ID: cnp00283495, cnp00559238
CIRIS author ID: 228
De Agostini ID: Arcesilào+di+Pitane
Deutsche Biographie (GND) ID: 10238102X
Enciclopedia Galega Universal ID: 77501
Encyclopaedia Herder person ID: Arcesilao

Show all 50 identifiers +38

Encyclopedia of China (Third Edition) ID (2026): 3mNG9E
Encyclopedia of China (Third Edition) old ID (2021): 440401
Encyclopædia Britannica Online ID: biography/Arcesilaus
Europeana entity: agent/base/145455
FactGrid item ID: Sid Going
Freebase ID: /m/016_pz
Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana ID: arcesilau-de-pitana
Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana ID (former scheme): 0004855
Great Norwegian Encyclopedia ID: Arkesilaos
Great Russian Encyclopedia Online ID (2017): 1828768
Great Russian Encyclopedia portal ID: arkesilai-3605b2
Hrvatska enciklopedija ID: 3869
IdRef ID: 029405041
InPhO ID: thinker/2545
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy ID: arcesil
J9U entity ID: 987011093306905171
Krugosvet article (archived): gumanitarnye_nauki/filosofiya/ARKESILA.html
LAGL author ID: urn:cts:greekLit:tlg1172
Lex ID: Arkesilaos_fra_Pitane_-_Aitolien
NE.se ID: arkesilaos
NLP ID: a0000003799287
National Library of Poland MMS ID: 9810662484105606
National Library of Spain SpMaBN ID: XX1378501
Online PWN Encyclopedia ID: 3871112
Oxford Classical Dictionary ID: 668
PACTOLS thesaurus ID: pcrtXxMJyj8Qpj
Perseus author ID: 1997
Persons of Ancient Athens: 202740
Proleksis enciklopedija ID: 9529
RSPA ancient author ID: d30379fccf76abe07a387aa5f52d45ee7c37d7a6
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ID: arcesilaus
TLG author ID: 1172
ToposText person ID: 312
Treccani ID: arcesilao-di-pitane-in-eolide
Treccani's Dizionario di Filosofia ID: arcesilao-di-pitane-in-eolide
Trismegistos author ID: 6327
WorldCat Entities ID: E39PCjryxPq77m4TXmcDKPKcRq, E39PCjxDFwJbtBFp8tJgchX3Km, E39PCjvdxTxv3vvdmdpxK8fhjK, E39PBJjHbGGBPtkbjj6xXfdmh3
Yale LUX ID: person/6fcd5a4f-a523-41ed-8a13-913f088c3946

Report an error or request removal Lineage (PROV-JSON)

🔗 Connections

Described by source 7

Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition, New International Encyclopedia, Pauly–Wissowa, Description of Greece, The Nuttall Encyclopædia, Granat Encyclopedic Dictionary

Student 3

Eratosthenes, Chrysippus of Soli, Lacydes of Cyrene

Students 3

Eratosthenes, Chrysippus of Soli, Lacydes of Cyrene

Country of citizenship 1

Classical Athens

FactGrid item ID 1

Sid Going

Field of work 1

philosophy

Instance of 1

human

Languages spoken, written or signed 1

Ancient Greek

Movement 1

Platonism

Occupation 1

philosopher

Place of birth 1

Pitane

Place of death 1

Athens

Residence 1

Classical Athens

Sex or gender 1

male

Student of 1

Crates of Athens

Teachers 1

Crates of Athens

Time period 1

Hellenistic period

Writing language 1

Ancient Greek

Press Enter · cited answer in seconds

Arcesilaus was a philosopher born on January 1, 1 BC in Pitane^[1]. He died on January 1, 1 BC in Athens. His field was philosophy.

FAQs

Where was Arcesilaus born?

Arcesilaus was born in Pitane^[2].

Where did Arcesilaus die?

Arcesilaus died in Athens^[4].

What did Arcesilaus do for work?

Arcesilaus worked as a philosopher^[5].

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

📑 Cite this page

Use these citations when quoting this entity in research, articles, AI prompts, or wherever provenance matters. We aggregate Wikidata + Wikipedia + authoritative open-data sources; the stitched, scored, cross-referenced view is what 4ort.xyz contributes.

APA 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). Arcesilaus. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/arcesilaus

MLA “Arcesilaus.” 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph, 4ort.xyz, 6 Nov. 2026, https://4ort.xyz/entity/arcesilaus.

BibTeX

@misc{4ortxyz_arcesilaus_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{Arcesilaus}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/arcesilaus}, note = {Accessed: 2026-11-06}}

LLM prompt

According to 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph (aggregator of Wikidata, Wikipedia, and authoritative open-data sources): Arcesilaus — https://4ort.xyz/entity/arcesilaus (retrieved 2026-11-06)

Canonical URL: https://4ort.xyz/entity/arcesilaus · Last refreshed: November 6, 2026

Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

6d ago · Printstream · 2026-11-02 view diff on Wikidata ↗

Deutsche Biographie (GND) ID → 10238102X

"Changed the item: QuickStatements 3.0 batch #63427: add P7902"
26d ago · Worobiew · 2026-10-14 view diff on Wikidata ↗

Place of death → Athens, Classical Athens

"Created claim: Place of death: Classical Athens"
4w ago · Printstream · 2026-10-06 view diff on Wikidata ↗

"Changed [de] labels, descriptions or aliases: QuickStatements 3.0 batch #57984: Import missing aliases from dewiki 1/3"
16w ago · Estevoaei · 2026-07-17 view diff on Wikidata ↗

Enciclopedia Galega Universal ID → 77501

"Created claim: Enciclopedia Galega Universal ID: 77501, Matched to Arcesilao de Pitana (#192251584) in [[:toollabs:mix-n-match/#/catalog/6936|Enciclopedia"
17w ago · Nyuhn · 2026-07-10 view diff on Wikidata ↗

Encyclopedia of China (Third Edition) ID (2026) → 3mNG9E

"Changed the item: QuickStatements 3.0 batch #40849: ZGBK ID"
26w ago · JBradyK · 2026-05-10 view diff on Wikidata ↗

Position held → scholarch of the Platonic Academy

Place of birth → Pitane

Significant place → Pitane

Student → Eratosthenes, Chrysippus of Soli, Lacydes of Cyrene +1

+ 14 other properties edited (see Wikidata diff for full list)

"Created claim: Significant place: Pitane, #quickstatements; #temporary_batch_1778415012167"

Live feed via Wikidata EventStreams. New edits appear within minutes of being made on Wikidata.